Shane Devereux grew up around West Chester, Pennsylvania, played baseball through high school at Malvern Prep, and studied agribusiness at Penn State. In this Q&A, he talks about how his definition of success has changed over the years, and what actually tells him he’s doing well.
How Do You Define Success Right Now?
For a long time I thought it meant hitting a specific target: a grade, a spot on a team, a number of some kind. Now I think of it more as whether I’m handling the day in front of me the right way. Did I show up for the people I said I would. Did I take care of the things I’m responsible for. That sounds small, but it’s a better test than chasing one big outcome.
Was There a Moment Growing up That Changed How You Thought About It?
Baseball taught me this early. At Malvern, you learn fast that the scoreboard doesn’t always match how well you actually played. You can go 0 for 4 and still have had good at-bats. You can get a hit on a bad swing. I stopped using the result as the only measure of whether I’d done something well, and started paying attention to the process instead.
How Do Habits Fit Into Your Idea of Success?
I think they’re most of it, honestly. I try to keep my days pretty regimented: work, working out, cooking, time with friends and family. None of that is impressive on its own. But doing it consistently is what adds up. Atomic Habits put language to something I already believed from sports, which is that small, repeatable actions beat big, occasional ones almost every time.
What’s Something You’ve Changed Your Mind About?
I used to think success meant figuring out the one right path early and sticking to it. Studying agribusiness at Penn State, I met people who were dead set on one direction from day one, and people who were still figuring it out senior year, and both groups turned out fine. I’ve come around to thinking the direction matters less than how seriously you take the work once you’re in it.
Do the People Around You Factor Into How You Think About Success?
A lot. I’ve got an older brother, Brady, and we grew up pulling for Chicago teams because of our parents, and Philly teams because of where we lived. Having two sets of teams to care about taught me early that you can hold two things at once without one canceling out the other. I think about success the same way: you can care about your own progress and still measure yourself against the people you’re close to, without it being a competition.
What Role Do Outside Influences Play?
Books and podcasts have shaped how I think more than I expected. Shoe Dog stuck with me because of how much uncertainty was involved in building something, and how long it took before anything looked like success from the outside. The Psychology of Money changed how I think about patience. I also listen to shows like How I Built This, because hearing the real story behind something, not the cleaned-up version, tells you more about what success actually required.
How Do You Measure Whether a Day or a Week Went Well?
I don’t use one single marker. It’s more whether I did the things I meant to do: worked out, cooked something instead of ordering out, spent real time with people instead of just being in the room with them. Some weeks that looks like a lot. Other weeks it’s just staying consistent through something boring. Both count.
What Would You Tell Someone Who’s Still Trying to Figure Out What Success Means to Them?
Stop waiting to feel sure before you start taking it seriously. I didn’t have it fully worked out in high school or college, and I still don’t have it completely worked out now. What changed is that I stopped treating that as a problem to solve before I could get started, and started treating it as something that gets clearer the longer you actually do the work.